Rachel Dobbs
When you go for lunchtime sushi, what’s the one thing normally missing? A decent espresso, right? Barista Daniel Lee thought so, too – and so his new café, Blind Basket, brings city coffee culture together with the best of modern Japanese food.
Photography by Rachel Dobbs.
The Blind Basket interior is the first sign that your senses are in for a treat. Like the food, the fit-out is contemporary and beautifully presented, with attention to every detail: it’s a high-ceilinged, light-bathed space lush with plants.
Photography by Rachel Dobbs.
The breakfast crowd is well catered for with cafe classics like muesli with yoghurt mousse, and herbaceous balsamic mushrooms topped with peppy pecorino as well as Japanese options, including an amazing okonomiyaki omelette.
But it’s the ridiculously photogenic fitness bowl that has become this cafe’s social media fave, foodstagrammed over and again since they opened. And it delivers as much substance as it does style: made up of perfectly poached eggs, grilled haloumi and avocado, plated with a feel-alive medley of greens and crunchy sprouts, beetroot, carrot and pomegranate, all topped with smashed pistachio and cashew nuts and a tahini dressing.
Photography by Rachel Dobbs.
If you’re just popping in for a take out, you may be tempted away from your usual mid-morning coffee kick by a super-thick superfood smoothie (try the cacao and peanut butter with banana, dates and crushed nuts), a sublime loose leaf tea from new local brand Noble & Savage, or a cold-pressed organic juice.
Photography by Rachel Dobbs.
For lunch, the cabinet is stacked with more traditional cafe options and sweet somethings, but it’s the variety of hand-rolled sushi that’s the star of the Blind Basket show, intricately crafted and fresh throughout the day. They almost look too good to ruin by biting into… but that will only be a fleeting thought in that millisecond between smearing a piece with a little wasabi mayo and tucking in.
Photography by Rachel Dobbs.
Along with sushi, there’s a super-fresh soba noodle salad, miso salmon (tea-smoked in-house), an umami chicken teriyaki, and a Japanese take on the Korean favourite bibimbap, where delicate sashimi and Japanese salad greens sit atop warm rice with classic bibimbap sauce.
Rounding out the Blind Basket experience is ‘omotenashi’ service – a humble and wholehearted style of hospitality that’s synonymous with Japanese culture.
Blind Basket
38 Barry’s Point Road, Takapuna, Auckland
Story by: Alana Broadhead. Photography by: Rachel Dobbs.
